“If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”
John 11:48 (NLT)
After Lazarus walked out of that tomb, many believed—but some ran straight to the Pharisees. That still shocks me. They saw resurrection, the clearest display of God’s power, and their first response was to “tell on” Jesus. Their loyalty to the nation and the religious system was stronger than their desire for a Savior.
The Sanhedrin panicked. If Jesus kept doing miracles, everyone would believe in Him, and Rome might threaten their power and their Temple. They feared losing the life they built more than they feared missing the Messiah. But what they didn’t realize is that Jesus couldn’t just stay and keep doing miracles. He had to die. Salvation was always meant to go further than Israel.
Isaiah 49:6 said Jesus would be “a light to the Gentiles” and that God’s salvation would reach “the ends of the earth.”And Jesus had already declared in John 10 that there would be “one flock under one Shepherd.” That couldn’t happen unless Jesus went to the cross. His sacrifice was the doorway for all nations to be united in Him.
Here’s the irony: by trying to protect their nation, the religious leaders actually fulfilled God’s plan to save it. Their rejection opened the door for our adoption. Their blindness made room for our salvation. And like Romans 8:28 reminds us, God worked through their wrong motives and turned it for good.
I love that. The very power they tried to suppress became the power that saved the world. And He still works the same way today. When fear drives our decisions, when pride blinds us, when we cling to our plans—God can redeem it. His purpose always stands, even through our failures.